Fastening arrangement of a force-transmitting device

ABSTRACT

In a force-transmitting device of a force-measuring cell with a parallel-guiding mechanism in which a stationary parallelogram leg and a movably guided parallelogram leg are connected to each other by parallelogram guides, at least one of the parallelogram legs has a fastening part with at least two fastening portions. Each fastening portion has a fastening pad with a tapped hole normal to the fastening pad surface, for fastening the device to a housing or a load carrier. The parallelogram leg has slot-shaped incisions that serve to uncouple the fastening portions from the rest of the parallelogram leg, so as to prevent the propagation of assembly stresses from the fastening portions into the working parts of the force-measuring cell.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/977,617, filed 27 Oct. 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,220,924, which isincorporated by reference as if fully recited herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a device for transmitting a force in aforce-measuring cell with a parallel-guiding mechanism wherein a fixed,stationary parallelogram leg and a movably guided parallelogram leg areconnected to each other by parallelogram guides, wherein the stationaryparallelogram leg and/or the movably guided parallelogram leg has a partwhich serves the function of fastening and has at least two fasteningportions. Each of the fastening portions has at least one hole runningperpendicular to one of the surfaces of the respective parallelogramleg. The holes serve to attach a load carrier to the force-transmittingdevice and/or to attach the force-transmitting device to a housing or toan intermediate holder. In addition, each of the parallelogram legs hasslot-shaped incisions.

The slot-shaped incisions in the fastening part of a parallelogram leghave a stress-uncoupling function, preventing the propagation of a forceor stress from one or more fastening portions to the rest of theparallelogram leg and to those parts of the force-measuring cell thatserve to receive and transmit the force generated by a load acting onthe movably guided parallelogram leg. In the case where this kind offorce-measuring cell is used in a scale, the connection of a weighingpan or a weighing-pan support to the vertically movable parallelogramleg, or the connection of the force-measuring cell or in particular ofthe force-transmitting device to a housing and/or to an intermediateholder is often accomplished by means of screws. This leads to stresseswhich are caused on the one hand by cutting the tapped holes in thematerial that the parallel-guiding mechanism is made of, and on theother hand by tightening the screws in the threaded holes. Preferably,the propagation of these stresses to the rest of the force-measuringcell is avoided or at least reduced by slot-shaped incisions or othercutouts in the material of the fastening part of the force-transmittingdevice. As is commonly known, forces and stresses of this kind whichcome from the mounting attachment can cause errors in the measuringresult.

BACKGROUND OF THE ART

The state of the art already includes disclosures of force-transmittingdevices with slot-shaped incisions or cutouts in the parts that containone or more fastening portions.

A force-transmitting device of this kind in a force-measuring cell witha parallelogram-shaped guiding mechanism is described in EP 0 511 521.At opposite ends, i.e., in a vertically guided parallelogram leg and astationary parallelogram leg, this force-transmitting device is equippedwith respective fastening arrangements that serve on the one hand toattach a load carrier and on the other hand to attach the load cellitself to a housing. At least one of the fastening arrangements has afastening portion and a connecting portion that are uncoupled from eachother by a transition portion. The latter is formed in the shape ofnarrow web that is kept as slender as possible, so that the propagationof forces and stresses caused by the fastening means, e.g., by screws,is kept away from the connecting portion. This concept of uncouplingmaterial portions from each other is expressed in the description of EP0 511 521 B1 through a variety of configurations of theforce-transmitting device, in particular in regard to the connectingportion and the fastening portion. In essence, the transition portion ischaracterized by differently shaped cutouts in the material, inparticular circular bore cuts. It is further proposed to arrangering-shaped grooves around the individual fastening locations in orderto uncouple the fastening locations from the rest of the fasteningportion.

The manufacturing process for the embodiments proposed in EP 0 511 521B1 is relatively expensive, particularly in the case of the ring-shapedgrooves surrounding a fastening location.

A weighing cell is disclosed in DE 195 35 202 C1 with a parallel-guidingmechanism consisting of a housing-based fixed part and a load-receivingpart which are connected by two parallelogram guides. In a firstembodiment, the housing-based fixed part has at least two verticallyoriented holes to fasten the weighing cell and is equipped withslot-shaped incisions to uncouple the rest of the housing-based fixedpart from the area around the fastening holes which is affected by thescrews. The incisions in this case consist of one slot-shaped incisioneach from the top and from the bottom, where the slot-shaped incisionfrom the bottom is extended by an angled-off horizontal portion in whichone of the vertical holes ends.

In the second embodiment, at least two horizontally extending holes areprovided for fastening the weighing cell to the housing, with the holesending in slot-shaped incisions entering from the sides. A thirdslot-shaped incision which runs likewise in the vertical direction isarranged between the holes that run side by side. This configurationleaves only a vertically extending web in place and thus separates thehousing-based fixed part from the area around the fastening holes whichis affected by the screws, whereby the part of the weighing cell thatperforms the measuring function is uncoupled from the fastening part inregard to stresses and forces. Common to both embodiments, thehorizontally and the vertically directed slot-shaped incisions traverse,respectively, the entire width or the entire height of theforce-transmitting device.

This embodiment has the drawback that the structural strength,specifically of the housing-based fixed part and/or of theload-receiving part, suffers as a result of the slot-shaped incisionsthat run along the entire height or width of the respectiveparallelogram leg of the force-transmitting device. In particular, thisconcept no longer leaves the entire height or width of the respectiveparallelogram leg available to absorb laterally acting torques.

An objective of the disclosed embodiments is to achieve a good degree ofuncoupling of the fastening part in each parallelogram leg of aforce-transmitting device and to achieve at the same time a high degreeof structural stability of the force-transmitting device while meetingthe requirement that the measures taken for the uncoupling can becost-effectively realized in production.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a device for transmitting a force in a force-measuring cell with aparallel-guiding mechanism in which a fixed, stationary parallelogramleg and a movably guided parallelogram leg are connected to each otherby parallelogram guides, the stationary parallelogram leg and/or themovably guided parallelogram leg has a part which serves the function offastening and has at least two fastening portions. Each of the fasteningportions has at least one hole running perpendicular to the associatedsurface of the respective parallelogram leg. The holes serve to attach aload carrier to the force-transmitting device and/or to attach theforce-transmitting device to a housing or to an intermediate holder. Inaddition, each of the parallelogram legs has slot-shaped incisions. Thefastening portions have fastening pad areas that are raised relative tothe respective parallelogram-leg surface. The part with the fasteningfunction is separated from the rest of the parallelogram leg by firstslot-shaped incisions which run partway through the parallelogram legand whose cutting profile area in the parallelogram leg, as projectedinto a plane extending through the fastening portion and runningperpendicular to the parallelogram plane and in the travel direction ofthe movably guided parallelogram leg, does not extend farther in thisplane than to the opposite side of the fastening portion in relation tothe surface of the parallelogram leg.

Thus, the dimensions of a fastening portion are defined substantially bythe area of its fastening pad, and in the direction perpendicular to thefastening pad surface by the length of the holes provided for thefastening connection.

Providing at least two fastening portions ensures a structurally soundconnection between the force-measuring cell and the housing or anintermediate holder, or between the force-measuring cell and aload-receiving device. On the one hand, this allows designs in which thedistance between the fastening portions is maximized and on the otherhand, it makes the force-transmitting device relatively insensitive inregard to torsion-generating forces and corner-load effects that occurwith an increased number of fastening portions, also including inparticular the case of force-measuring cells for higher load capacities.The slot-shaped incisions, whose projected dimensions are limited to thecorresponding dimensions of the respective fastening portion, run onlythrough part of the width and height of a force-transmitting device. Inthe surface area, they may extend beyond the respective dimension of thefastening portion because of factors related to the manufacturingprocess.

With this concept, a sufficient depth of material is left in place toconnect the fastening part to the rest of the respective parallelogramleg, so that on the one hand the stresses are largely uncoupled from thesensitive part of the force-transmitting device, while on the other handthe force-transmitting device still has a sufficient rigidity to absorblaterally directed torques if they occur, as the entire height as wellas the entire width of the respective parallelogram leg are available tointercept such torques. Furthermore, the raised pad areas at thefastening portions ensure well defined fastening zones, so that thecontact pressure is evenly distributed and symmetric over the fasteningpad surface.

In a preferred embodiment, the fastening portions as well as theslot-shaped incisions are, either in their individual shapes or inpairs, mirror-symmetric relative to a parallelogram plane extending as acenter plane through the parallelogram mechanism.

In advantageous embodiments, the slot-shaped incisions can extend in aplane that runs either at an oblique angle or parallel or perpendicularto the corresponding fastening pad surface.

In a preferred further development, there can be further slot-shapedincisions, specifically second and/or third slot-shaped incisions. Thelatter can likewise extend in a plane that runs at an oblique angle tothe corresponding fastening pad surface. In a special embodiment, eachof the second and/or the third slot-shaped incisions is oriented in aplane that runs perpendicular to the first slot-shaped incisions.

The force-transmitting device can be designed so that the at least twofastening portions are arranged laterally in the area of the respectiveend surfaces of a substantially block-shaped stationary parallelogramleg and/or of an analogously designed movably guided parallelogram leg.In alternative configurations, the at least two fastening portions arearranged in the area of a topside or a bottom side of a substantiallyblock-shaped stationary parallelogram leg and/or of a movably guidedparallelogram leg. In further embodiments the at least two fasteningportions are arranged in separate positions at two opposite sides of asubstantially block-shaped stationary parallelogram leg and/or of amovably guided parallelogram leg.

The fastening pad surfaces can be of a rectangular shape and/or eachfastening pad surface is arranged in point symmetry relative to thecenter of the fastening hole. In particular, a fastening surface canalso be circular. While the fastening pad surfaces in preferredembodiments are plane surfaces, this is not a necessary requirement.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the force-transmitting devicehas a parallel-guiding mechanism that is formed of an integral block ofmaterial.

In a preferred further development, the entire force-transmitting deviceis formed of an integral block of material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, the disclosed embodiments are further describedthrough examples that are illustrated schematically in the drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 represents a side view of a force-transmitting device in aforce-measuring cell with a force-reducing lever mechanism;

FIG. 2 represents a perspective view of a portion of aforce-transmitting device with four laterally arranged fasteningportions and first slot-shaped incisions, with parts a) to c) of FIG. 2showing different variants;

FIG. 3 represents a perspective view of a portion of aforce-transmitting device with four laterally arranged fasteningportions and first and second slot-shaped incisions, with parts a) andb) of FIG. 3 showing different variants;

FIG. 4 represents a perspective view of a portion of aforce-transmitting device with four laterally arranged fasteningportions and first, second and third slot-shaped incisions;

FIG. 5 represents a perspective view of a portion of aforce-transmitting device with fastening portions arranged at the top orbottom of a parallelogram leg of the force-transmitting device, with a)first slot-shaped incisions, b) second slot-shaped incisions oriented ina second direction and supplementing the first incisions, and c) first,second and third slot-shaped incisions;

FIG. 6 represents a perspective view of a portion of aforce-transmitting device with fastening portions arranged at the topand bottom of the force-transmitting device, with a) first slot-shapedincisions, b) and c) variant versions with first and second slot-shapedincisions;

FIG. 7 represents a perspective view of a portion of aforce-transmitting device with four laterally arranged fasteningportions and first slot-shaped incisions oriented at an oblique anglerelative to the fastening pad surfaces;

FIG. 8 represents a perspective view of a portion of aforce-transmitting device with three laterally arranged fasteningportions and first and second slot-shaped incisions, and with a thirdslot-shaped incision at the underside; and

FIG. 9 represents a perspective view of a portion of aforce-transmitting device with two laterally arranged fastening portionsand first and second slot-shaped incisions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The force-transmitting device 1 shown in a side view in FIG. 1 is of atype that is used in a force-measuring cell, for example for a weighingscale. This force-transmitting device 1 has a parallel-guiding mechanismwith upper and lower parallelogram guides 4 and 5, respectively, each ofwhich is pivotally connected by way of flexure pivots 6 to a verticallymovable parallelogram leg 3 and a stationary parallelogram leg 2. Theforce-transmitting device 1 includes a lever mechanism which in theillustrated arrangement consists of three levers 10, 11, 12. The levers10, 11, 12 are connected to the vertically movable parallelogram leg 3and to each other through coupling elements 7, 8, 9 and are pivotallysupported by way of fulcrum flexures 13, 14, 15 on a cantileveredextension 16 of the stationary parallelogram leg 2.

At the end surface 17 of its stationary parallelogram leg 2, theforce-transmitting device 1 has four fastening portions 20 withfastening pad surfaces 23 that are raised slightly in relation to theend surface 17. When the force-transmitting device 1 is fastened, forexample to a housing or a fixed, housing-connected intermediate holder(not shown in the drawing), the fastening pad surfaces 23 are restingagainst the housing or intermediate holder. The attachment to thehousing or intermediate holder can be made, e.g., by means of screwsthat are received in tapped holes provided for this purpose in thefastening portions 20. Four slot-shaped incisions 21 effect anindividual partial separation of each of the fastening portions 20 fromthe rest of the stationary parallelogram leg 2 and thus from the body ofthe force-transmitting device 1. Only one upper and one lowerslot-shaped incision 21 are visible in FIG. 1. The slot-shaped incisions21 have about the same dimensions as the fastening pad surface areas 23of the associated fastening portions 20, as illustrated in detail inFIGS. 2 to 9.

On the opposite side from the end surface 17, the end surface 18 of thevertically movable parallelogram leg 3 likewise has four fasteningportions 30 for a load carrier or for an appropriate intermediate part(not shown in the drawing). The fastening portions 30 can be of anentirely analogous configuration as the fastening portions 20, and inlike manner they are partially separated by upper and lower slot-shapedincisions 31 from the rest of the vertically movable parallelogram leg 3and thus from the body of the force-transmitting device.

The parallel-guiding mechanism is configured with mirror-symmetryrelative to a center plane of the force-transmitting device that extendsparallel to a parallelogram plane (also see FIGS. 7 to 9).

FIG. 2 gives a perspective view of portions of a force-transmittingdevice 1 in the area of one of the parallelogram legs, for example thestationary leg 2, which is configured in this case to be fastenedlaterally to a housing or a housing-connected intermediate part (notshown in the drawing). Each of a total of four fastening portions 20 isarranged near a corner of the parallelogram leg 2, with a firstslot-shaped incision 21 being provided for each of the fasteningportions 20. The slot-shaped incisions 21 are produced by removingmaterial at a distance of a few millimeters from the end surface 17. Theslot-shaped incisions 21 are preferably produced by milling, but theycan also be made by means of an erosion process. The function of theslot-shaped incisions 21 is to uncouple the fastening portions 20 fromthe rest of the parallelogram leg 2 and thus from the body of theforce-transmitting device 1, so that stresses and forces are notpropagated from a fastening portion 20 into the rest of theparallelogram leg.

A vertically movable parallelogram leg 3 can have an entirely analogousconfiguration in regard to its fastening portions 30 for the attachmentof a weighing pan carrier or a suitable intermediate part. The detailsof the movably guided parallelogram leg will therefore not be explicitlycovered in the following paragraphs. However, for all of theconfigurations of a force-transmitting device described herein—includingthose following below—the disclosure is applicable likewise to analogousconfigurations in the area of the vertically movable parallelogram leg.

Each of the four fastening portions 20 has a slightly raised pad 25which protrudes from the end surface 17 and has a planar fastening padsurface area 23 providing a supporting contact for fastening theforce-transmitting device 1 to a housing or an intermediate holder.Approximately centered in the fastening pad surfaces are tapped holes 26where fastening screws can be inserted. Each tapped hole ends in therespective slot-shaped incision 21. As is self-evident, one could alsouse other fastening means, for example bolts, for an attachment of theforce-transmitting device 1 to a housing or an intermediate holderand/or to fasten a weighing pan to the force-transmitting device.

The parallelogram leg shown in FIG. 2 a) has fastening portions 20 withraised pads 25 that have a rectangular or square fastening pad surfacearea 23 ending flush with the corners of the parallelogram leg 2. Thefirst slot-shaped incisions 21 arranged at each of the fasteningportions 20 are in this case produced by disk-shaped milling cutters, asevidenced by the arc-shaped bottom of the slot-shaped incision 21. Theslot-shaped incisions 21 run parallel to their associated fastening padsurfaces 23 and extend over a surface area approximately equal to thefastening pad surface 23. The slot-shaped incisions leave a web portion40 in place between the fastening portions 20 and the rest of theparallelogram leg 2. Being of a relatively narrow width, the web portion40 will on the one hand not allow the passage of forces and stressescaused by the fastening means, while on the other hand theforce-transmitting device remains sufficiently rigid at the fasteningportions, because even with the uncoupling by means of slot-shapedincisions 21, the remaining material extends over the entire height aswell as the width of the force-transmitting device 1.

FIG. 2 b) illustrates the same portion of the parallelogram leg 2 asshown in FIG. 2 a), but the first slot-shaped incisions 22 are in thiscase somewhat wider, and the bottom of the incision is flat. Theseslot-shaped incisions 22 were produced by shaft-milling.

The raised fastening pads 25 in FIG. 2 c) have circular fastening padsurface areas 24. In their fastening function, they have the advantageof a more uniform distribution of the contact force around the fasteninghole due to their symmetry relative to the fastening hole. It should benoted in this context that the fastening pad surface areas 23, 24 haveto be sufficiently large so that the contact pressure in the connectionto a housing or to an intermediate holder does not become excessive andremains in a non-critical range where the material does not reach itsyield stress.

In addition to the first slot-shaped incisions 21, 22, it is possible toarrange further slot-shaped incisions around the respective fasteningportions 20. In a form of representation that is analogous to FIGS. 2 a)and 2 b), an embodiment of a force-transmitting device is shown in FIGS.3 a) and 3 b) with additional, second slot-shaped incisions 27, 28arranged at the end surface 17 and oriented perpendicular to the firstslot-shaped incisions 21, 22. Like the first slot-shaped incisions 21,22, the slot-shaped incisions 27, 28 are limited approximately to thesize of a fastening portion 20. Their primary function is to uncouplethe fastening portions 20 from each other in regard to the propagationof stresses.

In principle, the second slot-shaped incisions could also run across theentire width of the force-transmitting device 1 in the area of theparallelogram leg 2 for an even stronger uncoupling of the fasteningportions 20 from each other as well as between the fastening portions atthe upper and lower locations of the parallelogram leg.

In a representation that is analogous to FIGS. 2 and 3, the embodimentof a force-transmitting device 1 shown in FIG. 4 has third slot-shapedincisions 41 running perpendicular to the first and second slot-shapedincisions. The third slot-shaped incisions 41 are arranged midwaybetween the two upper fastening portions 20 as well as midway betweenthe two lower fastening portions 20. With this configuration, thefastening portions 20 are nearly isolated fastening cubes or fasteningblocks, with only narrow webs of material left in place in all threedimensions between the fastening portions 20 and the rest of theforce-transmitting device, which has a particularly beneficial effect onthe uncoupling of the forces and torques. In particular, thisarrangement also uncouples all of the fastening portions 20 from eachother. An embodiment of this kind provides a high degree of uncouplingof the fastening portions 20, but is at the same time more rigid inregard to bending when compared to the known existing solutions.

FIGS. 5 a) to 5 c) illustrate a portion of a force-transmitting device101 with a stationary parallelogram leg 102 that can be connected to ahousing or an intermediate part through four fastening portions 120arranged near a top or bottom surface 129 with raised fastening padareas 123 protruding therefrom. The variation taught here may also beused in association with a movably guided parallelogram leg of theforce-transmitting device. In either case, first slot-shaped incisions121 serve to uncouple the fastening portions 120 that are farther fromthe end surface 117. The contour area of the incision in this embodimentis about as large as the rectangular fastening pad surfaces 123 of thefastening portions 120. The slot-shaped incisions 121 run parallel totheir associated fastening pad surfaces 123 and extend over a surfacearea approximately equal to the fastening pad surface 123. In a manneranalogous to FIG. 2 a), the first slot-shaped incisions 121 in FIGS. 5a) through c) leave a web portion 140 in place between the fasteningportions 120 and the rest of the parallelogram leg 2. Being of arelatively narrow width, the web portion 140 will, on the one hand, notallow the passage of forces and stresses caused by the fastening means,while, on the other hand, the force-transmitting device 101 remainssufficiently rigid at the fastening portions, because even with theuncoupling by means of first slot-shaped incisions 121, the remainingmaterial extends over the entire height as well as the width of theforce-transmitting device 101.

In comparison to FIG. 5 a), a further solution which is presented inFIG. 5 b) improves the uncoupling of the body of the force-transmittingdevice 1 from the fastening portions 120, more specifically from thefastening portions 120 that are located farther from the end surface117, through second slot-shaped incisions 127, 128 in the parallelogramleg 102 which are approximately perpendicular to the first slot-shapedincisions 122 and approximately parallel to the fastening pad surfaces.The slot-shaped incisions 128, which are farther back from the endsurface, are shown connected to the first slot-shaped incisions 122, butthis is not strictly required. The slot-shaped incisions 128 areproduced preferably by shaft-milling from the outer surfaces that extendin the direction of the parallelogram plane. The second slot-shapedincisions 127 that begin at the end surface 117 serve primarily toimprove the uncoupling of the fastening portions 120 next to the endsurface from the rest of the parallelogram leg 102.

In the foregoing arrangement with the second slot-shaped incisions127,128, it is likewise possible to add third slot-shaped incisions 141and possibly a fourth slot-shaped incision in the parallelogram leg 102,as a preferred solution to uncouple the fastening portions 120 from eachother, as shown in FIG. 5 c) for an embodiment that has secondslot-shaped incisions 127, 128 and wherein third slot-shaped incisions141 run parallel to the first slot-shaped incisions.

FIG. 6 illustrates three different variants of an embodiment of theforce-transmitting device 201 with a total of four fastening portions220, two of which are arranged at the top and two at the bottom of, forexample, the stationary parallelogram leg 202. The first slot-shapedincisions 221 have an analogous configuration as the slot-shapedincisions 121 of the embodiment represented in FIG. 5 a), but are inthis case arranged at the top as well as at the bottom of theparallelogram leg 202.

In addition to the first slot-shaped incisions 221, the embodiment ofFIG. 6 b) has second slot-shaped incisions 227 which, like the secondslot-shaped incisions 127 shown in FIG. 5 b), run parallel to theassociated fastening pad surfaces. The second slot-shaped incisions 227have the function to uncouple on the one hand the fastening portions 220from the rest of the parallelogram leg and on the other hand to uncouplethe upper and lower fastening portions 220 from each other.

The configuration shown in FIG. 6 c) is analogous to 6 b), except thatthe height of the body of the force-transmitting device 1 is differentfrom the distance between the upper and lower fastening pad surfaces223.

In the variants shown in FIGS. 6 b) and 6 c), the first and secondslot-shaped incisions 221 can likewise be supplemented by thirdslot-shaped incisions which serve to uncouple, respectively, the twoupper fastening portions 220 from each other and the two lower fasteningportions 220 from each other.

In this context, it should be noted that the four fastening portionscould also be split up into two fastening portions on one of the outsidesurfaces and two fastening portions on the other of the outside surfacesof the parallelogram leg that are parallel to the parallelogram plane,in which case the arrangement of the first slot-shaped incisions 221would be analogous to the first slot-shaped incisions 221 of FIG. 6 a).

As FIG. 7 shows, the slot-shaped incisions do not necessarily have to beparallel to the fastening pad surfaces. It is also conceivable to usefirst slot-shaped incisions 321 that run at an oblique angle relative tothe fastening pad surfaces, and the same applies also in particular tosecond and third slot-shaped incisions, which are not shown in FIG. 7.It needs to be noted, however, that the obliquely oriented slot-shapedincisions are arranged in substantially mirror-symmetric pairs relativeto a parallelogram plane which in this case extends through theparallel-guiding mechanism as a symmetry plane 360, indicated in FIG. 7by broken lines. Without imposing this design constraint, one wouldincur an increased risk that the force transmitted by theforce-transmitting device could also include force components thatdeviate from the desired direction of the deflection of the movablyguided parallelogram leg, i.e., from the direction of the gravity forceif the force-transmitting device is used in a weighing scale. It shouldfurther be mentioned that the projection of the oblique slot-shapedincisions 321 into the plane of the fastening pad surfaces 323 covers anarea approximately equal to the size of the fastening pad surfaces 323.

FIG. 8 gives a perspective view of an embodiment of a force-transmittingdevice 401 with three laterally arranged fastening portions 420, withtwo of the three fastening portions 420 being arranged at the bottom andone being arranged at the top of the parallelogram leg 402. The reversearrangement, i.e., two fastening portions 420 at the top and one at thebottom, is likewise conceivable. The fastening portions 420 at thebottom are uncoupled from the rest of the parallelogram leg 402 by firstslot-shaped incisions 422, second slot-shaped incisions 428, and a thirdslot-shaped incision 441, while the fastening portion 420 in thecentered position at the top is separated from the rest of theparallelogram leg 402 by a first slot-shaped incision 422 and a secondslot-shaped incision 428. All of the slot-shaped incisions of theembodiment of FIG. 8 are produced by shaft-milling. The fasteningportions 420 as well as the slot-shaped incisions 422, 427, 441 aremirror-symmetric relative to the symmetry plane 460 of theforce-transmitting device 402.

FIG. 9 represents a perspective view of part of a force-transmittingdevice 501 with two fastening portions 520 arranged above one another atthe end surface 517, where each of the fastening portions has a firstslot-shaped incision 522 and a second slot-shaped incision 528. Thefastening portions 520 as well as the slot-shaped incisions 522, 528 arearranged with mirror-symmetry relative to the symmetry plane 560 of theforce-transmitting device 502.

The force-transmitting device has been described and illustrated hereinin a variety of preferred embodiments. However, the concepts taughtherein will enable further embodiments to be realized by individuals whoare skilled in the art. Specifically, the measures to achieve anuncoupling through slot-shaped incisions are equally applicable toforce-transmitting devices in force-measuring cells that operateaccording to the principle of electromagnetic force compensation, or inforce-measuring cells where a deformation is detected by means of straingauges, as well as in other force-measuring cells that are notspecifically named herein.

1. A force-transmitting device in a force-measuring cell, comprising: aparallel-guiding mechanism, comprising a movably-guided parallelogramleg and a stationary parallelogram leg with top and bottom faces, an endface and a pair of opposing side faces, the respective parallelogramlegs being connected to each other by parallelogram guides; at least oneof the parallelogram legs further comprising a fastening part with atleast two fastening portions arranged on at least one of the top andbottom faces thereof, each fastening portion comprising a fastening padsurface with a fastener-receiving hole tapped therein; and a firstslot-shaped incision associated with each fastening portion, each firstslot-shaped incision penetrating in a straight line only partiallythrough one of the side faces and the face on which the fasteningportion is arranged, each fastening portion being located between theend face and the associated first slot-shaped incision.
 2. Theforce-transmitting device of claim 1, wherein: each fastening padsurface is raised relative to the face on which it is arranged.
 3. Theforce-transmitting device of claim 1, wherein: the fastening portionsand the first slot-shaped incisions are mirror-symmetric relative to aplane that is orthogonal to and bisects the end face of the stationaryparallelogram leg.
 4. The force-transmitting device of claim 3, wherein:the fastening portions and the first slot-shaped incisions are arrangedin pairs.
 5. The force-transmitting device according to claim 1,wherein: the fastening pad surfaces are configured in a rectangularshape.
 6. The force-transmitting device according to claim 1, wherein:each fastening pad surface is configured with point symmetry relative toa center of the hole.
 7. The force-transmitting device of claim 1,further comprising: a second slot-shaped incision associated with eachfastening pad surface, each second slot-shaped incision extending in anincision plane parallel to the associated fastening pad surface.
 8. Theforce-transmitting device of claim 7, wherein: each fastening padsurface is raised relative to the face on which it is arranged.
 9. Theforce-transmitting device of claim 7, wherein: the fastening portionsand the first slot-shaped incisions are mirror-symmetric relative to aplane that is orthogonal to and bisects the end face of the stationaryparallelogram leg.
 10. The force-transmitting device of claim 7,wherein: the fastening portions and the first slot-shaped incisions arearranged in pairs.
 11. The force-transmitting device of claim 7, furthercomprising: a third slot-shaped incision associated with each fasteningportion, each third slot-shaped incision extending between a pair offastening pads, parallel to one of the first slot-shaped incisions. 12.The force-transmitting device according to claim 7, wherein: thefastening pad surfaces are configured in a rectangular shape.
 13. Theforce-transmitting device according to claim 7, wherein: each fasteningpad surface is configured with point symmetry relative to a center ofthe hole.
 14. The force-transmitting device according to claim 1,wherein: the parallel-guiding mechanism is formed of an integral blockof material.
 15. The force-transmitting device according to claim 1,wherein: the force-transmitting device is formed of an integral block ofmaterial.
 16. The force transmitting device of claim 1, wherein: thefirst slot-shaped incisions leave a web portion between the fasteningportions and a remainder of the parallelogram leg, so that at least aportion of each of the orthogonal dimensions of the parallelogram leg isintact.
 17. The force-transmitting device of claim 7, wherein: thefastening part has a height between the fastening portions arranged oneach of the top and bottom faces thereof, the fastening part heightbeing different than a height between the top and bottom faces of theforce-transmitting device.